Semiconductor devices such as central processing units (CPUs) have various configurations depending on the application. Such semiconductor devices each include a plurality of circuits, for example, as well as a circuit for storing data or a program (main memory), a variety of storage circuits such as a register or a cache memory.
A register has a function of temporarily holding a data signal for carrying out arithmetic processing by an arithmetic circuit, holding a program execution state, or the like. In addition, a cache memory is located between an arithmetic circuit and a main memory in order to reduce access to the low-speed main memory and speed up arithmetic processing by the arithmetic circuit.
In such a semiconductor device including a plurality of circuits, a clock signal with a high frequency generated in an oscillation circuit is converted into a clock signal with a low frequency with the use of a divider circuit (also referred to as a prescaler), and the converted clock signal with a low frequency is used to synchronize the circuits.
In general, a divider circuit includes a delay flip-flop (DFF) circuit (see Patent Document 1, for example).